An Alisa Release Day Review: Smitty’s Sheriff (Hope #3) by Cardeno C.

Standard

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Todd is too flakey. Richard is too stubborn. Together, they’re perfect. A May-December couple get a second chance at love.

Retired soldier Richard Davis wants a stable life in a quiet town with a forever man. Becoming the sheriff of Hope, Arizona, accomplishes two of his three goals, but instead of finding a serious partner, he falls for too-young-to-be-committed and too-flakey-to-be-serious Todd Smitty. Richard won’t find the right man if he’s obsessed with the wrong one, so he walks away from Todd.

It’s lust at first sight when Todd meets his sister’s army friend. He sets his sights on the worldly, strong, stable older man, and the more time he spends with Richard, the harder he falls. But after three years together, Richard cuts off all contact with no explanation.

When a mutual obligation requires Todd to move into Richard’s house, he’s thrilled at the opportunity to earn a second chance. Ignoring Todd from across town was hard enough. Can Richard resist temptation under his own roof?

This was a sweet story even if I was frustrated with some of the characters actions. Richard is so sure that Todd isn’t the right man for him and doesn’t want to hold him back so he breaks off their relationship. Todd has been so confused as to why Richard broke off their relationship that when they have to work together and watch Todd’s niece he is so scared of doing something wrong.

This story definitely had a d/s undertone to it, Todd is completely submissive to Richard’s dominate nature and that is where some of the problems lie with these characters. Todd loves to be taken care of which makes sense considering what we learn about him in this story while Richard is afraid that he is making too many decisions for Todd and it isn’t what Todd wants. However, I still can’t understand Todd’s thought process about having sex with other guys before that since Richard didn’t specifically say anything that he could sleep with whoever, that part just didn’t work for me.

This story is told from both characters’ points of view which gives a nice look into both of their thoughts. It takes some work on Todd’s part but he finally gets Richard to talk about why their relationship fell apart and they are able to clear the air with each other. Richard is breaking his own heart staying away from Todd while Todd can’t help but hope they will be able to work it all out.

Cover art is great and I love the sweet visual of these two characters together.